The Morning Skate, Nov. 13: Debating "Canada's team," defending Burrows, and B.C. Place among world's best

So, are the Toronto Maple Leaf's "Canada's team"? How about the Montreal Canadiens? Neither? Both? We are so confused here in Vancouver. But at least in Vancouver we have the 95th greatest soccer stadium in the world. Uh, say what?

On Wednesday afternoon, the nine-year-old came home from a birthday party.

The goodie bag was a good one: a superb array of hockey cards, including two Jonathans — Toews and Drouin. And a copy of the most recent Hockey News. The “Versus” issue.

In it, various versuses. The best centre — Toews vs. Sidney Crosby. The best logo — the old Winnipeg Jets vs. the new Winnipeg Jets. The best coach — Joel Quenneville vs. Mike Babcock. The best expansion city — Las Vegas vs. Quebec City. The second-best league — the AHL vs. the KHL.

But there, on the Hockey News cover, was the granddaddy question of them all. The biggest of the versuses. Canada’s team — the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. the Montreal Canadiens.

This versus drives a lot of people batty. After all, there are more than two cities in Canada. Right?

Without dredging up too much history, we know how this works. The Canadiens and Maple Leafs were two of the Original Six, so if you loved the NHL before 1970, and you wanted to support a Canadian team, you had two choices.

The Canucks entered in 1970 — and then the Edmonton Oilers, Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques in 1979, and the Calgary Flames in 1980. That muddied the waters, for sure. Certainly changed things for me — a 10-year-old when the Oilers made the move from the WHA. It’s such ancient history for a now-47-year-old that, quite honestly, I can’t quite recall my allegiance pre-WHA merger. Seriously. I watched the Leafs on Saturday nights. Watched the Habs on Saturday nights. The Habs always seemed great. The Leafs, not so much. But there was one game on a Saturday, generally, and I watched it no matter who was playing.

In 2015, does the “Canada’s team” question even make sense? These are much more complex times. We’ve had 30-some years with multiple Canadian teams. If Toronto and Montreal seemed close, at one time, since you had no other viewing options, they seem a lot further away now. And you’d like to think we’re maybe a bit less navel-gazing than we once were. The world in general is a smaller place, thanks to everything from social media to Google Earth. We were about 20 million people when the NHL expanded beyond the Original Six. Now we’re around 35 million. We have more choices, in general. More channels. More food. More information.

I asked the nine-year-old, “Which is Canada’s team? The Canadiens or the Maple Leafs?”

His answer: “What about the Canucks?”

On with the Morning Skate:

THE HOME TEAM

So the Canucks have moved on to Toronto to play the Maple Leafs — you know, Canada’s team — on Saturday.

Except it hasn’t been, right? Not really, right? Except they’re now 1-3 on the trip, 1-3 against, pretty much, four non-playoff teams. And, as Botch reminded us, the usually strong penalty-killing Canucks are now 10-for-17 killing power plays in November. Yeah, you read that right. Just over 50 per cent.

There’s lots more from Botch. The terrible power play. Radim Vrbata, last year’s 31-goal scorer who, this season, has three goals on 64 shots and sounds, well, really friggin’ depressed: “Playing in a game I feel as good as last year, maybe better. But I have been missing the goals. I feel bad for the teammates who are passing me the puck and the coaches who are giving me the opportunity. I’ve been feeling like I’ve been letting the team down.”

And that’s the guy who Botch says, quite rightly, is one of the Canucks’ best free agent signings of all time.

Then there’s Ryan Miller. Botch points out that the Canucks’ No. 1 has lost his last four games, all by one goal. (And, of course, all 10 losses this season are by one goal.) And that his best save percentage in any one of those four games was an .880. Ouch.

Writes Botch:

Miller is in a slump. But is he a struggling goalie, a bad goalie, or a 35-year-old goalie fatigued because he played too much in the first five weeks of the season, including several road trips, and 15 starts in 17 games? Guess that one depends on your perspective. At the very least, this should quiet all those who said back-to-backs aren’t a big deal. Who cares? He’s a pro athlete. Won’t matter. Not in October, right? Maybe not right. Because now this road trip suddenly feels two months long, not two weeks, for the team’s No. 1.

Friend of Province Sports Clay Imoo seeks post-game haikus. Here’s one that embraced a theme that pretty much trended all evening on social media, playing off the possibly controversial size of Miller’s equipment:

On a happier note, there were hundreds of Ben Hutton fans in the stands in Kanata. The Canucks’ rookie defenceman is from Prescott, a small town about an hour away. And, I kid you not, about 10 per cent of the town’s 4,000 residents came to see Hutton play. Botch wandered into the stands. Did a nice job telling Hutton’s story. And got this fun 22-second clip:

Nice. Hutton’s an unusual success story in this market. Here’s hoping he’s a building block for the club.

DAY OF RECKONING FOR BURROWS?

Last thing with Botch and the Provies. Today, Alex Burrows is having a wee chat with the NHL about the controversial interaction he had with the New Jersey Devils’ Jordin Tootoo last Sunday. Did Burrows cross the line? What’s going to come of this? Well, here’s Botch:

When many hear about an incident involving Alex Burrows they immediately assume the worst. I, however, assume the best. You see a player who has occasionally dived? You see someone you’ve heard is dirty? I have seen things that will forever outweigh that. I have seen much of Alex Burrows for the past decade. I was there in Shippagan, New Brunswick, when eloquence, friendship, humanity and heart gushed from him at Luc Bourdon’s funeral. I was around after teammate Rick Rypien left this earth. I was there that night Burrows detailed Stephane Auger’s revenge plot and was watching when the subsequent HNIC takedown that soon followed aired. Exposing Auger, and what Burrows did that night took courage, and if you don’t think so, you’ll always be wrong on this. I have seen his passion for the game, his respect for the game, his knowledge of the game, and I have seen it pour out of him, year after year after year, interview after interview. So, sorry Jordin Tootoo, when Burrows says his smack talking had nothing to do with race, did not mention alcohol and did not reference a particular tragic event which has happened to your family, I believe him. When the Canucks said what Burrows said was no big deal and is something which can be said “10 times a game,” I believe them. After what I’ve seen for 10 years, Burrows is one of the few players I would say deserve the benefit of the doubt. I’m not saying he’s not capable of something that crosses the line. I am saying he’s not capable of lying about it. If I’m wrong, shame on me. But if I’m right, shame on Tootoo, because he spoke out of school, intentionally left it ambiguous, and manufactured a situation where those who don’t know Burrows, and even some who do, will assume it was about race, assume it was about suicide and assume the worst. If Tootoo thinks it worth it to break code, and share what was said on the ice, it has to be worth it to go all the way. Half-assing it isn’t fair to anyone.

That would seem to be Botch’s appropriate response to a reader who writes me regularly with his thoughts on how the Canucks have been run, are being run and should be run. His latest motion: the Canucks need to trade Burrows. He thought so even before the Tootoo affair. He thinks so even more now: “To me, this is an opportunity for Trevor Linden to show what type of team he is going to build and on the backs of players with integrity or not. If he tries to sweep this under the carpet, IMO, he will lose a lot of us who love him.”

SURFING THE PACIFIC

Remember how the Arizona Coyotes were supposed to be the worst team in the Pacific Division?

Well, after beating up on the Edmonton Oilers Thursday night, they are now in first place — tied with the Canucks in points, but have played one less game.

Sorry, let me correct myself. The Canucks were in first place until the middle of the evening. Then the Coyotes moved into first place. And just after 10 p.m. last night, the Los Angeles Kings, who started the season with three straight lopsided losses, moved into first place after beating the New York Islanders 2-1.

And in case you thought Jonathan Quick was a problem, along comes Kings backup Jhonas Enroth. He played his third game as a King Thursday. Things are going well.

YES, GREATER THAN STAMFORD BRIDGE

A couple of years ago I bought the then-seven-year-old an Xbox. Had to go with FIFA as the first game. And was shocked to see that one of the game’s featured stadiums was B.C. Place. B.C. Place! Yes! Really? I mean, the greatest soccer stadiums in the world were all there. And then this stadium in Vancouver where the world’s best players don’t want to play.

Paul Chapman sent me the list. Told me to check it out, include it in the list. And then he just called me because he couldn’t believe his eyes as he surfed lower and lower in the list. Hot-diggety-dog! There at No. 95? B.C. Place. (“Despite sounding like Fred Flintstone’s address,” writes FourFourTwo, “B.C. Place is beautifully futuristic.” Hmmmm.)

Of course, B.C. Place will host a big international soccer event tonight: Canada vs. Honduras in World Cup 2018 qualifying. Excellent story from Our Man Weber on Atiba Hutchinson, perhaps Canada’s best-ever player, and how he toils in anonymity. (Is there any other sort of toiling?)

Two interesting things about the game stemming from my chat with Weber Thursday afternoon:

In case we’re wondering how critical tonight’s game is — the first of six in their CONCACAF group — Weber reminded me that the Canadians will have two games against Mexico, which will surely be losses; and road games in El Salvador and Honduras, which would be tough for most teams and potentially impossible for Canada. Hmmmm, this isn’t good. And basically means Canada needs to win tonight.

During the final practice on Thursday, the stadium was freezing. Weber figures that if the stadium won’t open the roof tonight due to safety concerns, they may well just turn off the heat. After all, it’s 29ºC in San Pedro Sula, the home of the Honduran national team. It is cold enough in Vancouver today — by game time it will be 7ºC. If you’re going, you might want to bundle up. And see if the Hondurans are as stiff as you’ll feel in the stands.

None of it is particularly rude or nasty — not in an overt way. It’s way more subtle, and might be too subtle for Mayweather. In fact, de la Hoya does confess that he bought Mayweather’s last pay-per-view fight and that it really helps put his kids to sleep. Nice.

And features gems like this — you know, advice to a now-retired Mayweather:

Maybe you’ll put your true skills to work and open a used-car dealership or run a circus. Or maybe you’ll wind up back on Dancing With the Stars. It’s a job that’s safe, pays well and lets you run around on stage. Something you’ve been doing for most of your career.

Very nice. Though I was surprised, really surprised, to learn one thing: the letter will be published in December’s issue of Playboy. I was surprised, after all, because I had no idea Playboy still exists.

WARRIORS, COME OUT AND PLAY

So the NBA champion Golden State Warriors seem really rather interested in defending their title. They beat Andrew Wiggins and the Minnesota Timberwolves 129-116 Thursday night — and in the process drove their record to 10-0.

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